


Soup for the Sick

by kimilers



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, Prompt from twitter gone fic, i just think they're neat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27600359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimilers/pseuds/kimilers
Summary: Sandalphon takes care of a sick Belial
Relationships: Belial/Sandalphon (Granblue Fantasy)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 34





	Soup for the Sick

It was a good thing Sandalphon could find a nearby convenience store. He wasn’t entirely familiar with the area, but a late night shopping trip had definitely been in order.

As he walked back with his small bag in hand, he started to finally think about the situation he found himself in.

It had all started earlier that day at work. He worked at a small cafe that got pretty busy during the morning and lunch breaks of the day, so a missing person would be pretty obvious. But, in this case it was extremely obvious.

“Where’s Belial at?” Sandalphon asked his coworkers.

They had all shrugged in confusion. Nobody had even heard a call from him that morning. Sandalphon knew Belial was trouble all too well, but he knew Belial wasn’t really one to skip out on the process. Usually he would just find some sort of technical loophole to get out of work, but this was going to be a straight up no show.

Was it REALLY any of Sandalphon’s business? Not really, no. But, sometimes he couldn’t help but worry about people, regardless of who they were. He had gone through too much in his own life to discard the ability to care for others, but this didn’t stop him from being any more annoyed at himself for it.

Luckily, Belial was a bit of a clown himself. He had given Sandalphon his address before for less than appropriate reasons, so Sandalphon knew where to look for him as soon as the cafe closed. 

“This is the place…” Sandalphon sighed. He could easily just turn around and go home, be on his way to a peaceful night, but something wasn’t sitting with him right. It was sort of a weird itching feeling on his chest that he couldn’t shake off. “Fine, I’ll knock once then go home.” Sandalphon told himself.

He gave a firm and solid knock on the door, only for the door to crack open by itself.

“Wh--” Sandalphon stood dumbfounded. He hadn’t intentionally planned on opening it, he just didn’t think it was shut all the way.

What was he supposed to do now? Close it and knock again? Say something? Go inside? Several thoughts ran through his head but before he could process any of them at all, he ran inside. “Pardon me!”

A deep breath and shutting the door behind him, he finally looked around. The place seemed pretty dark. Sandalphon couldn’t see much, but he did instantly notice the trash on the floor. It was basically all over the place. This was his place and not just some abandoned living space, was it?

Suddenly, his ears picked up on some noise. It wasn’t a scuffle or stepping sounds, but almost like music? It was too far away to tell, but there was definitely some sound. Sandalphon walked in carefully, trying to step over the trash on the floor along the way. 

“Oh my god…” He whispered to himself. “This place is a mess.” Following the music, he could definitely hear it more clearly now. It was too clear for a phone speaker, so maybe it was through a radio? Someone was listening to music? He got to the room and peaked around the corner. Although he stepped inside on the assumption of this being Belial’s place, he did trust Belial so he wasn’t exactly unprepared to see someone else here. 

Luckily, all of that concern left as soon as he saw a body on the sofa. He’d recognize that hair anywhere, even if it was a little messed up. He could hear some faint semblance of a voice through his light snoring, but overall, that was him.

“He’s sleepi-- Well, I guess it is night time about now but this early? What is he? An old man?” 

Sandalphon shook his head and called out. “Hey, Belial, I think you left your door open.”

No response. He was out like a light.

Sandalphon sighed. He was gonna have to do this the hard way, huh? He walked over and lightly shook Belial on the sofa. “Hey, Belial. Wake up. Why’d you just skip your shift tod--”

Almost instantly, Sandalphon could sort of see the answer to his question. Belial’s skin color was absolutely flushed. He even seemed to be sweating, and he was pretty sure the “snoring” he was hearing was slightly heavy breathing.

“He’s sick?” Sandalphon thought. Well, if he was he definitely didn’t need to be sleeping on something like a sofa. “Hey, Belial. Wake up, you need to sleep in a bed.” he shook him with more force this time.

Belial’s eyes slowly opened up and he huffed his breathing out. “Huh? Oh… Sandy? In my place?”

“You didn’t show or call for work today. That’s really not something you do, as much trouble as you are, you can at least put a front on doing your job well.”

Belial sat there and thought for a bit before reaching for his phone and looking at the time. “Oh how ‘bout that? Really did sleep all day. Whoops.”

“You probably need it, you’re sick.” Sandalphon said, “Here. Where’s your bedroom at you need to sleep in your be--”

“Awww going to keep me some company, Sandy?” Belial laughed. “How kind of you. I could use a pick me up.”

Sandalphon flared up, “Belial! You’re paler than the trash all over your floor! Why is your house a mess anyway?!”

Belial sighed back, “I got busy! Don’t you know I have a life?”

“I try not to think about what you do outside of work, that’s dangerous.” Sandalphon said nonchalantly. “Okay, look. You can go to your room and get in bed. I’ll get you some medicine. Where do you keep yours?”

“Meds?” Belial repeated out in a slightly shocked tone before laughing and turning into a cough.

“Idiot!” Sandalphon said, “Don’t laugh like that if it’s gonna make you cough!”

Belial caught himself and sat up, “Sorry, I just thought it was funny. I don’t have anything like that.”

Sandalphon was distraught. “You what? You… don’t have any? Do you not get sick often?”

“Not really.” Belial said, “But even then I don’t really need it. I’m fine.”

If there was one thing Sandalphon absolutely had a bone with, it was when people who clearly weren’t okay just said “Yeah, I’m okay.” so easily. He kneeled down to Belial’s eye level and felt his forehead with his hand. “Belial, you’re running a fever.”

“It’ll pass.”

“It still hasn’t passed and you’ve been asleep all day.”

“Maybe I just need more sleep then.”

Sandalphon sighed, “Okay, fine. Sleep then, but have you eaten yet?”

Belial sat and thought a bit, “I think I had something before I crashed but I’ve been out all day so no.”

“Well, let me make something for you then. Do you have anything you want me to cook for you then?”

Belial snickered, trying not to end in a coughing fit again. “Uh… I think I got something in the fridge. Might be expired. I mostly eat something quick.”

Sandalphon snapped, “No wonder you’ve gotten sick! You live like this!” He was exhausted already but for a different reason than he originally expected. There was trash everywhere and nothing exactly stocked up. Sandalphon was almost beginning to wonder if Belial even HAD a bed. “What do you do with your paychecks anyway? Please don’t tell me you spend it on … things.”

“What do you think of me, Sandy?” Belial said, “I’m not THAT irresponsible. I just don’t really stay here that much.”

Sandalphon looked around. It really did kind of look like a sort of storage unit more than a house. A place where Belial just kept his things and nothing more. It kind of stung to see in person. 

“Okay…” Sandalphon said with a sigh, “That’s fine. This is fine. You need to get to bed, I am going to the store to get some things and I will be back.”

“Oh you’re heading out?” Belial said, “Here I know the place, I can show you where the store i--”

“I have my phone!” Sandalphon barked. “Quit trying to avoid going to bed!”

Belial chuckled, “Awww so sending me to a bed you haven’t even warmed up for me, this is so cold.”

“Then I’ll make you soup. Get to bed.” Sandalphon barked.

So here he was, late at night, going back to Belial’s place with a small bag full of some food and medicine. Also some trash bags. He figured it wasn’t going to be enough to clean everything, but if he was going to be there, he may as well clean the place up a bit.

He almost felt a sense of pity thinking about it? He wasn’t sure what he was thinking when he considered how Belial lived before, but he wasn’t really expecting his place to look that… empty? Trashed? It was supposed to be his home but he treated it like he didn’t care what happened at all. What had to happen to a person in life to make them act like this?

He wasn’t entirely sure, but he also knew it wasn’t his place to babysit him… still, leaving him like this didn’t sit with Sandalphon right.

It wouldn’t hurt to help him for now, right? Maybe Sandalphon could check in and make sure Belial was actually taking care of himself.

Sandalphon entered the small apartment house again, this time more assured than the last. “I’m back.” he said out loud. 

“Welcome back.” Belial’s voice echoed back from the other side of the building.

“I thought I told you to sleep!” Sandalphon yelled.

“How am I going to eat if I fall asleep?” Belial peaked his head outside of his room.

“What are you doing out of bed?! Get back in there!!”

“It’s fiiinnee.” Belial said, “I should walk a little for exercise right?”

“Hardly the time to be working out.” Sandalphon said. “Get back to bed and I’ll make you some soup like I said.” he tossed Belial a bottle. “In the meantime, take this medicine. It’ll help you sleep.”

“Lookin forward to it.” Belial smiled before vanishing into the room with his medicine.

Sandalphon sighed and moved towards the kitchen. Luckily, the apartment came with enough stuff to heat up a soup, but Belial was probably gonna have to eat it out of the pan directly.

Sandalphon reached up for the small pot and noticed the dust covered on it. “Does he actually just not take care of himself?!” Sandalphon said before sighing and washing it off in the sink. 

As he began cooking his soup, he instantly started picking up trash around the house. Paper, fabric, plastic, feathers??? Didn’t matter what it was, Sandalphon just tossed it. The place was an absolute mess. 

As for the things that somehow DIDN’T look like trash, he set aside into a pile. He’d just make sure Belial went through it later. Cleaning in the silence was kind of dull though, but he didn’t exactly feel like blasting out his own music in someone else’s house. 

“I’m turning on your radio.” Sandalphon said before turning it on. The music started blasting and Sandalphon kept cleaning. It wasn’t really music he knew anything about, but it was background noise.

On his second bag though, Sandalphon froze. The voice singing… sounded an awful lot like Belial? He stopped and listened a bit and sure enough, he was almost 99% sure this WAS Belial…

He finished using the trash bags he bought and walked into Belial’s room with his food. “Alright, unfortunately I was right and you DON’T own any bowls so you’re gonna have to eat from the pan.” he said. “Luckily, I picked up this when I went to the store too.” he said as he showed a plastic spoon. 

“Man, I think I’m just exhausted though…” Belial said, “Holding a pan and a spoon?”

Sandalphon stared at him blank. “No.” he said. He already knew what Belial was going to ask for and he was not some sweetheart honey on a date. “Feed yourself.”

Belial laughed and took the soup, “So cold. But I guess the soup could warm me up a bit.”

Belial tried it and was surprised a bit, “Oh this is actually homemade.”

“Yeah?” Sandalphon said, “It’s just soup. It’s not hard to make.”

“I was just figuring you bought a can or something.” Belial said as he ate another bite. “It’s not bad at all.”

Sandalphon wasn’t too surprised that a guy who lived on fast food thought some simple soup was good, but his mind was on something else. “Hey, Belial. Was that you singing on that CD in your radio?”

Belial stopped and looked at Sandalphon, “Ah, figured it out, huh?” He said, “Yeah that was me. I used to do some gigs like that for fun awhile back.”

“And you’re working at a cafe now?”

“Well…” Belial laughed, “I’m sure you can guess we weren’t exactly ‘cafe friendly’ music but we had to stop playing after a couple of uhhh… falling outs.”

“Falling outs? Did you fight with everyone?” Sandalphon couldn’t really picture Belial being in a fight like that, but maybe it happened.

“Nah.” Belial said, “I mostly just started trouble. One of the members really had it and got a little crazy and you know what? Good for him.”

“Why do you live for the sake of starting trouble?” Sandalphon sighed unsurprised. “Like… What’s wrong with you?”

“Wish I could tell you, Sandy.” Belial said. “But it’d probably be a long story. Maybe a little too long to put into a single part.”

Sandalphon was quiet. He had usually only known Belial as an annoying coworker, not really taking time to know of his past. He never really considered what Belial did before, but somehow the idea of him singing music like… that, fit him pretty well. He had heard that some musicians take fallouts pretty hard though, so he was wondering if that was possibly the case here. “Is that why you live like this?”

“Like this?” Belial said, “You mean a place trashed?”

“Sort of.” Sandalphon said while picking his words carefully. “Your place is a mess but even if you clean it up it looks like you just moved in. Also you’re not exactly eating right either. That’s not really normal.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fin--”

“Can you stop saying it’s fine when it’s clearly not?” Sandalphon interrupted. “You’ve said that enough today and this is hardly what I’d consider fine. You need to get a life worth living for or something.”

Belial groaned, “Oh come on, spare me the lecture would you? I think I’m doing fine.”

“And I think differently!” Sandalphon said, “Do you think this is okay?”

“Obviously.”

Sandalphon sighed. He couldn’t force Belial to care, but he wished he would.

“Well, if you want me to change my mind I could always reconsider with some company~”

“No.” Sandalphon said again. “I am not getting into your bed at all. I don’t trust it.”

Belial laughed a bit again and finished his soup up. “Okaayy, It was worth a shot though.”

Sandalphon took the pan back and put his hand on Belial’s forehead. It was still pretty warm, but at least the soup seemed to restore a bit of his color. “I’ll wash it and put it away. You get some rest.”

“You gonna track back home?” Belial said. 

“I’ll consider it. If not, I’ll just sleep on your couch.” He said, “Tomorrow is Sunday so we’re closed anyway. I can always just nap at home later.”

“Well, have a good nap then.” Belial said. “Thanks for the soup, it was a nice treat.”

Washing the pan, Sandalphon finally swallowed a truth he found hard to accept: He cared about Belial. Maybe not as much as people he personally preferred, but seeing him in this state definitely stirred something in him. Maybe the best way to phrase it would have been ‘nobody should have to live like this’. Even if said person was Belial.

Yes, tomorrow he could come home and rest up. Monday he’d go to work and then what? Just pretend this never happened? That he never saw this? Should he confront him on it again? Maybe even plan a few check ins? Where was he supposed to draw the line between ‘Belial is his own person’ and ‘Please don’t live in a trash can’?

He laid down on the couch and looked at his phone. It was already near 1am. Way too late to consider getting home via bus and a taxi would be pretty expensive. Guess he was staying the night after all…

He was already pretty tired, but he wasn’t aware of how tired he was until finally sat down. Sandalphon almost fell asleep instantly.

“Oh right Sandy…” Belial said with his head out from his room, “You sho-- oh?” Belial laughed at the sight of Sandalphon sleeping soundly. “Awww so cute and innocent…. It’d be a shame if something happened to you while you slept.” He said as he walked out of his room. 

“I probably should have mentioned where I kept the extra blanket sooner but oh well.” Belial said as he pulled a soft blanket out from his closet. He wobbled a bit over to Sandalphon and put it over Sandalphon, him not even waking up at the sudden weight thrown on him. 

“Out like a light huh? You really are too trusting…” Belial said. “Guess I have to do this the hard way then. Sorry Sandy, you know I can’t help my urges sometimes….”

Sandalphon woke up early the next day. He noticed the blanket immediately. “Did Belial do this?” It was clearly different from the one Belial was using on his bed. He rolled off the couch and folded the blanket up. He made his way over to Belial’s room and saw him sleeping soundly. He walked up and tapped him a bit to see if he was awake, but Belial seemed to be pretty much out. He felt his face only to feel a much cooler and damp surface. 

Good. The medicine seemed to have helped. 

Sandalphon looked at his phone again, almost in need of being charged, but it was getting time for buses to start up for the day. “Alright, I guess I can leave for now.” Sandalphon said to himself. There was a lot to deal with here but for now, it could wait for another time. 

The bus stop was pretty much empty for now. It was Sunday, so morning commute traffic was basically non-existent on this side of town. Sandalphon waited alone at the bus stop, kind of bored because his phone was dying so he couldn’t really check anything with it, but at least he got to watch the sun rise. 

The bus pulled up and Sandalphon pulled his pass out to have it read when the bus driver was staring at him.

“Hmm? What?” Sandalphon said, “Is something wrong with my pass?”

The bus driver started laughing a little and sheepishly spoke, “Son, were you having a bit too much fun last night?”

“I did stay over at a coworker’s place who was ill. He was sick. How’d you know?” Sandalphon was a little taken aback. Bus drivers were usually quiet but maybe this one felt talkative since Sandalphon was the only person on the bus right now.

He pointed to his mirror and said “Go on, take a look.”

Sandalphon leaned over and looked in the mirror and instantly snapped. “BELIAL!!!” He had drawn ALL over his face completely in some kind of marker. Where did he even HAVE a marker in that place?

The bus driver laughed hard, finding some kind of wipes for Sandalphon to work with. “Don’t worry, Sunday morning trips are always full of stuff like this.” 

Sandalphon was so embarrassed. He couldn’t BELIEVE he missed checking on something like that. Normally, he’d have seen it in his phone by now but unfortunately, fate wasn’t so nice to him today. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him with my bare hands!” he said wiping his face off. 

He couldn’t get all of it off but he at least made it look like he tried getting it off. It was going to be a very long bus ride home, but not nearly as long as his next shift with Belial was going to be.


End file.
